4.02.2012

I’m very used to irritating movie-going experiences these
days.The advent of cell phones has
dramatically increased the ways in which an audience can break your
concentration in a theater.I fully
expected, at the very least, some chatter in the full house viewing of TheHunger Games.But, to my surprise, it
was a very reverential crowd.My guess
is they had all read the book and were fans of the movie before it even rolled.

I’ve only seen it once, but here are my takeaways from the
movie.There was nothing eye-rolling in
the dystopian fantasy, unlike the Twilight series.But, in that comparison, there is a truth
that it clearly comes from young adult source material.I was expecting some more intrigue from the games
themselves, but I should have known they would be handled in a rather straightforward,
uncomplicated fashion.This is not to
say the scenes weren’t exciting, but the solutions were a little simplistic.

And the most common solution for Katniss’ (the main
character) problems appears to have a black character solve them for her.I counted three different, glaring instances
where she is assisted.I’m not one to
look into racism in film, but it became a little obvious.I haven’t read the books (and I don’t plan
to), but I have heard that isn’t the case in the written form.

That said, there are some genuinely funny moments.Woody Harrelson owns the film in a supporting role as a former
Hunger Games winner.And speaking of
winning, I didn’t expect the game itself to be over so quickly.With the amount of money this film has raked
in already, it’s a mortal lock for the two other books to be made to film.And quickly.I’m not sure if I’ll hit the theater for the next two, but I’ll
certainly rent them to see how this plays out.Overall, it was a good film.